Chapter 1170: Extinction and Killing

Just as the burly man used the power of the talismans to enter the void, he suddenly felt a powerful force silently strike his back. Although the golden flowers behind him frantically gathered to resist, he was still struck squarely by the blow.

With a resounding "boom," he was violently forced back into his original space. At the same time, a sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.

Just then, a clap of thunder simultaneously echoed from behind him. Grand Ancestor Jinhua, startled and alarmed, turned his head. About ten zhang away, Han Li materialized amidst a silver glow, slowly retracting his fist, which still pulsed with a chilling radiance, and sneering at him.

A chill ran through the bald man's heart. Only then did he truly confirm that the opponent was definitely not an early Nascent Soul cultivator. At the very least, they possessed cultivation at the middle stage or above, and their magic treasures, spirit beasts, and divine abilities were all far superior to his own.

With this realization, how could Grand Ancestor Jinhua dare to continue fighting Han Li? He completely abandoned any thought of combat. He suddenly threw the golden talisman in his hand into the air. His entire body erupted in golden light, transforming into a golden rainbow that pierced through the air and fled. He didn't even spare a thought for the beautiful woman below.

Han Li's brow twitched. He originally intended to immediately give chase, but the golden talisman thrown by his opponent dissipated with a "poof," transforming into a vast expanse of golden light. These golden lights then fragmented into numerous pieces, and after a period of condensation and transformation, they astonishingly formed thousands of thumb-sized golden venomous bees, which swarmed towards Han Li like an overwhelming tide.

A loud buzzing sound erupted! Han Li, somewhat surprised, calmly opened his mouth, and a ball of clear light, enveloping a small cauldron, shot out. The cauldron merely spun once in front of him, instantly growing several zhang in size. Then, Han Li patted the cauldron with a single hand.

With a "boom," blue flames instantly appeared on the surface of the giant cauldron, enveloping it. Then, with a rumbling sound, the cauldron lid slowly opened, revealing a foot-wide gap.

A stream of azure, chilling light shot out from the gap. Expanding against the wind, it transformed into a clear, ribbon-like stream over ten zhang long. With just a flash of azure light across the sky, the clear stream swept across a significant portion of the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it enveloped all the golden bees. Then, with a swirl, it lightning-fast retracted into the cauldron, enveloping a golden glow.

As soon as the Void Heaven Cauldron was manifested, it instantly collected all the golden venomous bees filling the sky. However, this slight delay meant that the startling rainbow formed by Grand Ancestor Jinhua was already fifty to sixty li away. Such an escape speed was astonishing for an early Nascent Soul cultivator.

Han Li saw this scene and a hint of sarcasm appeared on his face. He wasn't in a hurry to give chase; instead, he first swept his gaze around. As a result, his brows furrowed, and he let out a cold snort.

In the brief moment of his dazzling exchange with Grand Ancestor Jinhua, the grey-robed old man and the blue-robed youth had, at some unknown point, quietly retreated over a hundred li away. They looked as if they were about to turn and flee.

Ever since Han Li and Grand Ancestor Jinhua appeared one after another, these two had long since lost any thought of acquiring treasures. They only wanted to figure out how to escape the current perilous situation completely unharmed, lest they perish there. As for Grand Ancestor Jinhua, it was clear that the beautiful woman had summoned him to silence witnesses.

After a few exchanges between this unknown cultivator and Grand Ancestor Jinhua, it seemed that even a Nascent Soul cultivator was to be silenced. This made them realize the gravity of the situation.

But when Grand Ancestor Jinhua, speaking carelessly, mentioned the Void Heaven Cauldron, the two suddenly understood. Although they were only Core Formation cultivators, as disciples of the Barbarian Beard Sect, how could they not know about the Void Heaven Cauldron's emergence years ago? Even now, the Reverse Star Alliance's arrest warrant for the cauldron's wielder had not been revoked.

They knew the danger involved, and secretly, they were unwilling to remain there any longer. When Han Li and the bald man began to fight, these two immediately began to quietly retreat.

Now, seeing Han Li's icy gaze sweep over them, their hearts pounded wildly. They instantly disregarded everything else, activated their escape lights, and fled in separate directions.

As for the beautiful woman, when Grand Ancestor Jinhua abandoned her and fled in defeat, she panicked. She immediately turned, transforming into a red light, and shot away.

As for the low-level Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators further away by the lake, due to their low cultivation and great distance, they had no idea what was happening in the center of the lake. However, upon seeing their masters and grandmasters flee in disarray from afar, these individuals exchanged fearful glances, and then, with terror in their eyes, they scattered in all directions.

Witnessing these situations, a chilling expression flickered across Han Li's face. He suddenly reached to his waist, and a spirit beast pouch was instantly summoned into mid-air.

Immediately, hissing sounds emerged from the pouch, followed by a misty white cold fog, within which were more than a dozen snow-white centipedes. Each was half a chi long, with a pair of transparent wings on its back, appearing exceptionally ferocious and sinister. They circled and danced above Han Li's head for a moment. Han Li said nothing, merely pointing his finger, one by one, at the three figures in the distance.

Instantly, eighteen Six-Winged Frost Centipedes divided into three groups. They transformed into three gusts of white cold wind, spewing cold qi as they whistled in pursuit of the three Core Formation cultivators. Their escape speed was clearly a notch faster than the three.

The beautiful woman and the other two turned their heads and saw this scene. Startled, they immediately exerted every last bit of their remaining strength without reservation, and their escape speed actually increased slightly.

As for those low-level cultivators, Han Li didn't bother with them. Given their incredibly slow speed and lowly status, even if they wanted to report what happened here to someone, it would probably be several days later. By then, he would already be thousands of li away from this place.

However, after turning his head to glance at Grand Ancestor Jinhua in the distance, a murderous glint flashed in his eyes. With a gentle flap of the Wind-Thunder Wings on his back, he transformed into a silver arc and vanished from his spot.

Although Grand Ancestor Jinhua was already over a hundred li away by then, with each flicker of Han Li's movement, he instantly covered more than twenty zhang. After just six or seven such movements, he eerily appeared directly above the burly man.

Without a word, he raised a single hand. A vast expanse of purple flames shot out from his palm, transforming into a massive hand that fiercely clawed downwards.

"Ah!" Below, Grand Ancestor Jinhua never imagined that Han Li could so easily cast successive teleportation spells and catch up to him so quickly. He instantly cried out in shock, and seeing the purple hand descend to grasp him, a look of terror finally appeared on his face.

However, helpless, he could only open his mouth and spit out a golden flying dagger to slash at the massive hand. He then hastily formed hand seals, attempting to cast a spell to evade the attack.

But how could this massive hand, formed from Violet Radiant Extreme Flame, be easily broken by an early Nascent Soul cultivator? Han Li's unique Extreme Cold Flame was something even late-stage Grand Cultivators and Level Ten demonic cultivators would be somewhat wary of upon seeing.

The golden flying dagger struck the massive hand. With just a flash of purple light, the surface of the flying dagger was instantly covered with a layer of purple ice, and then, losing control, it plummeted directly downwards.

Under the burly man's ashen gaze, the massive purple hand eerily spread its five fingers, like a giant cattail fan, and instantly seized the burly man's recently launched body in its grasp.

A miserable shriek erupted. The purple flames on the massive hand instantly surged several chi higher. In the blink of an eye, Grand Ancestor Jinhua transformed into a purple ice sculpture.

Seeing this, Han Li in mid-air unhesitatingly activated a spell chant. The massive hand immediately squeezed its five fingers with force!

With a crisp cracking sound, the entire ice sculpture astonishingly shattered inch by inch. Amidst the ice fragments, a golden light flashed, and the burly man's Nascent Soul attempted to seize the opportunity to escape.

But Han Li was already prepared. With a thought, the massive hand transformed into raging purple flames, instantly trapping the burly man's Nascent Soul within.

The Nascent Soul only endured inside for a brief moment. It then flashed wildly a few times before vanishing into nothingness.

Only then did Han Li flick his sleeve. The purple flames transformed into a fiery snake and shot back, disappearing into his sleeve in a flash.

Only then did he faintly smile. Sweeping his gaze around, he then raised his hand and grabbed at the empty space below.

Immediately, the burly man's storage pouch, floating in the air, was drawn into his hand.

He then tucked the storage pouch into his sleeve, and raised his head to look in other directions.

He saw that the three individuals and the eighteen snow-white centipedes were already nowhere to be seen. They seemed to have pursued them to a very distant location.

Han Li was not in a hurry. He collected the Soul-Crying Beast, which had already reverted to its miniature form. Then, he closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and slowly released his spiritual sense in all directions, remaining motionless in mid-air.

At this moment, the vicinity grew silent. Aside from a gentle sea breeze, there was barely a sound.

After sitting cross-legged for the time it takes to steep a cup of tea, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Han Li's lips, and he reopened his eyes.

Almost simultaneously, a spiritual light flashed on the horizon in a certain direction. A mass of white cold wind shot back, and in a short while, it arrived directly above Han Li's head. As the cold wind dissipated, six ferocious snow-white centipedes appeared.

However, these centipedes had all grown to over a zhang in length. On the white shells of two of the centipedes, faint sword marks still remained, giving the impression that they had experienced a great battle.

With a low shout from his mouth, he cast a spell seal into the air. The six centipedes instantly glowed with white light all over their bodies, and their bodies rapidly shrank, returning to their original size.

Then, after Han Li again summoned the spirit beast pouch, these Six-Winged Frost Centipedes transformed into six streaks of white light and shot into the pouch's opening.

After waiting a while longer, the other two groups of centipedes also shot back from two different directions. One group was completely unharmed, but in the other group, one centipede had several of its thin legs severed, appearing to have sustained some injuries.

However, these spirit insects inherently possessed strong vitality and had the innate ability of limb regeneration. These minor injuries would completely recover after some time.

After collecting these centipedes as well, Han Li glanced towards the surface of the lake in the center. Immediately, a bright azure light burst forth from his body, transforming into an azure rainbow that shot downwards.

After just a flash, the startling rainbow plunged into the lake surface and disappeared.

This so-called Demon Lake was not very deep. After Han Li descended little more than two hundred li, he faintly saw the appearance of the lakebed.

However, the lake water here was quite peculiar, excessively emerald green. Even with Han Li's Spirit Eye ability activated, he could only clearly see up to a dozen zhang away. Anything further became blurry. As for spiritual sense, once it entered the lake, it seemed unable to leave his body.

This Demon Lake was actually a natural spiritual sense isolation zone.

However, Han Li already had the precise location given by Barbarian Beard in mind. After swiftly moving around the vicinity for a moment, he easily found his objective for this trip: a seemingly ordinary pile of reefs at the bottom of the lake!